Fast Break

Junior hockey

Coaching method smells bad

Getting dressed on the way to the rink is an accepted time-saver in minor league hockey circles.

But forcing junior hockey players to ride the bus in full gear after a loss isn’t sitting well with Western Hockey League brass.

Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine employed that form of discipline Sunday after his team lost 5-0 to the Tri-City Americans. He ordered players to remain in their equipment for the four-hour bus ride home.

“I think the message to the players was that it’s got to be better than that,” Constantine told the Everett Herald. “You have to at least show up and have some passion and interest in playing.”

As it turns out, Constantine was the one who really got penalized. Thursday the WHL fined the coach $5,000 and suspended him four games, including three regular-season games.

College football

Report: Bush, family took cash

New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush and his family appear to have accepted gifts, money and other benefits worth more than $100,000 from two marketing agents while the Heisman Trophy winner was still playing at Southern California, according to a report posted Thursday on Yahoo.com.

The report says Michael Michaels, a marketing agency investor who wanted to represent the football star, and current Bush marketing agent Mike Ornstein lavished Bush and his family with gifts while he was still at USC, each hoping to entice him to sign with them once he left school.

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